Part 1
After results from Chapter 2, I was pretty much convinced that without some radical change in loading technique, such as heavy crimping, using Lil'Gun powder was not going to produce satisfactory results. At the end of that thread, Wildcatter suggested using WW296/H110. Based on his experience with the cartridge, I decided to give it a try, and dug a can of 296 out of the locker.
Based on some suggested loads for a 200-grain bullet from the calguns thread, I settled on 40 grains as a starting load. Again, the loading protocol was pretty much that used for the loads in Chapter 2, Part 1, with two loads each at charges of 40, 41, 42, 43, and 44 grains. The barrel started out pretty clean for this series. I fired the loads from a bench through the chrono screens, and obtained these readings:
WW296 . .Trial 1 .Trial 2
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40 gr - - - 2150 - - - 2311
41 gr - - - 2305 - - - 2322
42 gr - - - 2324 - - - 2429
43 gr - - - 2421 - - - 2119
44 gr - - - 2494 - - - 2502
On the second and third shots, notable hangfires of a least a half-second occurred, and a shorter hangfire happened on the last 44-grain shot. After the first two, I began to tilt the rifle up, to settle the powder into the primer end of the case, before gently lowering it to fire the shots through the chronograph.
There were no signs of excessive pressure. In fact, most of the cases as sooting, back to the extraction groove in some instances. Some powder grains were left in the bottom of the bore after firing.
It appeared that an increase in powder charge was appropriate for further tests with this bullet.